Like Mother Like Daughter
by Lady Eleanor Boleyn
Summary: When two year old Helena Crawley is angry because her siblings are taking up the attention of the nursery staff, she seeks attention elsewhere and unwittingly dredges up memories. My take on the 'Mary tries to run away' stories. AU, fits into my Secrets Revealed Universe.


_Hmm - this was written fairly easily...maybe I should write at nearly midnight more often! ;) On another note though, this AU one-shot fits into my Open Secret-inspired_ _Secrets Revealed Universe, so Mary was banished from Downton in 1910, following an earlier Kemal Pamuk incident, she and Matthew have been married since December 1911, and have three children - Helena, born June 1913 and the twins, Reginald and Arabella, born October 1915, but Mary and Robert haven't yet been truly reconciled, hence his scheming... This is set mid- December 1915. Enjoy!_

Robert walked into the drawing room and was greeted by a petulant wail, "But Grandma, it no fair!"

Cora was sitting in the armchair that was always hers, the one in the alcove by the window, their tiny granddaughter on her lap. He paused, taking in the scene before him. Two and a half year old Helena wasn't her usual well-groomed cherubic self. Her brown-black hair, so like her mother's, was tangled and she was flushed with temper.

He coughed slightly and Cora glanced up, catching his eye. Relief mingled with devotion flashed in her eyes at the sight of him, making him smile. Despite everything, their love for one another would never change.

Though she looked away from Helena for a matter of seconds, the toddler seemed to know that she no longer had her grandmother's full attention. She bounced irritably on Cora's lap, clearly jarring her.

"It no fair!" Helena repeated, tugging on Cora's sleeve. Robert shook his head at her petulant behaviour and set himself to be patient as he crossed the room to kneel down before the little girl. Whatever he might think of her parents, she at least was innocent. She and her siblings were the only good thing to come out of this whole debacle. And they were still young enough to be influenced. With any luck, if he played the devoted grandfather long enough, he'd be able to make them see things his way; to turn them against their parents. Of course, Reginald was the important one, being the heir and the one who would play the most important part in Downton's future. Unfortunately, being barely more than a month old, he was no good to Robert just now. He would have to start with Helena, get his hand in; see what worked for her so that, once the twins were old enough, he already had a repertoire of weapons under his belt; ones he could use on the twins and know they would be successful.

"What's not fair, precious?" he murmured, patting her hand gently the way he used to do with Edith and Sybil when they were little. It had always soothed them. At the same time, he glanced up at Cora, hoping for a more coherent explanation than the one he would be likely to be able to garner from Helena's fractious wails.

"The twins are taking Nanny's attention again," she mouthed, careful not to move her lips too much, just in case Helena happened to glance up and notice that her grandmother was robbing her of the chance to tell him herself.

"Regi and Ara noisy!" Helena concurred, pouting, "They always noisy. I want Nanny too!"

Robert tipped his head to one side, considering. If he could appease Helena now, it would be the perfect chance to start driving a wedge between her and her parents. He knew full well that his plan would have been impossible if Mary and Matthew had been there, for they would have showered Helena in attention themselves, but they weren't. When Matthew had been lucky enough to be able to wangle an unexpected few days off for the week before Christmas, they'd gone to Duneagle for the shooting and a few days to themselves, now that the twins were a month and a half old and could be left with their nurses a little more easily.

" _That was one thing Mary was more than happy to accept again; someone else taking over responsibility for her children. That just proves she won't be a good Countess. If she can't even be a mother to her own children, how can she reasonably be expected to be a mother to the whole of Downton?"_ he thought to himself snidely.

In so doing, he conveniently forgot to consider the fact that Mary had in fact insisted on looking after Helena herself and had only given in to his insistence that she hire a nanny when the twins came along because she had wanted it to be a peace offering between them; a concession to the fact that, while she, thanks to Matthew's influence, found she wanted her son to be brought up as a modern man, she did accept that he had to be brought up to respect Downton's traditions and heritage as well.

Fortunately for the sake of Matthew and Mary's relationship with their eldest daughter, Cora saw the scheming behind Robert's eyes and moved to head it off. She, at least, had forgiven her wayward eldest daughter now that she'd done her duty and secured the inheritance. Much as she adored Robert, she didn't want to risk him alienating Mary from her children the way he had forced her to alienate herself from Mary.

She rang the bell, startling both her granddaughter and her husband. Jane, the new housemaid they'd taken on to replace Anna once she officially became Mary's lady's maid, appeared in seconds, bobbing a noiseless little curtsy, "You rang, milady?"

"Would you fetch Mrs Hughes, please, Jane?"

"Yes, milady," Jane turned and scurried from the room. A couple of minutes later, she was back, Mrs Hughes in her wake.

"My Lady?" the older woman asked.

"Miss Helena is having trouble getting used to her siblings. Perhaps Carson might have a few stories that might help?"

Cora gave the other woman a significant look and she nodded, holding out her hand to Helena, "Come on, pet. Let's go and see if we can find Mr Carson, shall we?"

Helena hesitated and then nodded eagerly, jumping off Cora's lap and skipping out of the room at Mrs Hughes's side. Cora turned to Robert warningly, "Don't ever consider it, Robert. Your feud with Mary has torn this family apart enough. Don't you dare get the children involved. Don't you dare, Robert William Crawley."

Her voice was hard, her American accent thickening in her anger. Her eyes were snapping and Robert actually flinched back from the sheer fury in her gaze. He tried to take her hand but she pulled back.

"I stood by you when you banished her. I stood by you when you raged against her marriage. I stood by you when you deliberately tried to make things difficult for her and Matthew when they arrived. I even stood by you last year when you admitted to me that you were hoping that Matthew would die in the trenches and you could banish her and Helena from Downton's walls again. But I will not stand by and watch you try to divide her from her own children. She's done her duty, Robert. She's kept Downton in the family. When are you going to accept that she's redeemed herself a thousand times over?"

Taken aback, Robert opened his mouth to protest, but Cora spun on her heel and swept from the room without waiting for an answer.

* * *

Meanwhile, Helena was sitting on the edge of Carson's desk, sucking on a sticky mouthful of wine gums and swinging her legs as she waited for him to finish his paperwork and pay attention to her.

Within a few moments, he put down his pen and turned to her.

"Now, then, Miss Helena. I hear Regi and Ara are being nasty and not letting you have any of Nanny's attention? Am I right?"

Helena nodded, "It no fair, Ca'so!"

"No, it's not, but do you know something?" Carson leaned forward, as though he was about to tell the tiny girl a huge secret. Helena shook her head, "Wha'?"

"Your Mama didn't like having brothers and sisters either. In fact, when she was a bit bigger than you, and your Auntie Sybil was born, she was so angry about it, she wanted to run away."

The toddler's eyes went wide. "Mama run away? Like me do with Nanny?"

"Exactly like that, Miss Helena."

Carson hesitated, losing himself in his memories for a few moments.

" _Carson?" The thin, piping voice distracted him from his musings over the wine list and he looked up as an uncharacteristically shy dark head peeped round the door frame._

" _Yes, my Lady Mary?" he asked in some surprise, "What can I do for you?"_

 _Seemingly drawing confidence from his greeting, the six year old Mary pulled herself together as she entered the room, trying to exude the same sort of confidence that she had seen her grandmother display around the servants. "Carson, I need you to give me some of the family silver."_

" _Oh? And why do you need that, my Lady?"_

" _I've decided to run away because Sybil's going to be just as noisy as Edith was as a baby and I don't want to be upset by her crying again. I need you to give me some of the family silver to sell so I don't run out of money."_

 _Carson hesitated. He knew why the six year old was so apprehensive. Edith, born two years earlier, had been a very difficult baby, more often than not shrieking constantly from dawn till dusk. Mary had been four then and most impressionable. It was hardly surprising she linked having a little sister to lots of noise and hardly any attention from the nursery servants. Yet at the same time, he could hardly be seen to encourage her to run away, even in fun. It wouldn't be proper._

" _Well, my Lady, we appear to have a problem here, because while I can understand your desire to get away from Downton, I can hardly give you the family silver. It would be most awkward for His Lordship, you know."_

" _I don't care about that!" For a split-second, Mary behaved like the angry six year old she was rather than the self-assured little lady she always tried to be._

" _Maybe not, my Lady, but I do. He'll be very upset if I give you the silver. He might even take my job away from me and I don't want that."_

" _That's all right. You can run away with me," Mary's little face was open and alight with determination, "Please, Carson?" she begged, pouting, "I'll pay you for it when I'm older and have some money of my own. I promise. Crawley honour."_

 _Carson chuckled, "How could I ever doubt the Crawley honour? Now then, here's what I propose we do, my Lady. Do you know the way to the village?"_

 _Mary nodded eagerly, "Yes."_

" _Well then, suppose I gave you sixpence to spend in the village instead and kept it a secret that you'd gone out? If you're very careful, I don't see why you shouldn't have an afternoon on your own. Just this once. You're a big girl now, after all. But you must be sure to be home well before dark, understand? I can't cover for you if you miss the nursery tea, is that clear?"_

 _Mary paused, then nodded, "And you must be sure to charge me interest on the sixpence too," she said gravely._

" _Oh I shall, My Lady, you may be sure of that," Carson said seriously, though in reality, he had no intention of doing so. How could he begrudge this charming child something as little as a sixpence?_

 _Leaning down, he drew the precious silver coin from a drawer in his desk and handed it to her, "Go on then, My Lady. Go and enjoy your freedom. You've earned it."_

 _She threw her arms round him and hugged him, "Thank you, Carson!"_

 _Then she skipped to the door._

" _Lady Mary?" he called, just as she reached it. She hesitated._

" _When you get back, I suggest you take some time to get to know little Lady Sybil. You may find she's not quite what you're expecting."_

 _She hesitated for a few more moments, then hurried off, letting the door swing shut behind her. But in the last seconds before it shut completely, he thought he saw her nod._

"Ca'so'!" Helena's high voice pulled from his memories and he shook himself, smiling down at the two year old,

"Yes, Miss Helena?"

"Magic?"

He laughed under his breath wryly. She was definitely her mother's daughter. Only Lady Mary's daughter would have been able to wangle the secret that he knew magic tricks out of him at the age of exactly two and four months. Rising, he gave her a mock theatrical bow, relieved that, being two years younger than Mary had been in her position, she was a lot easier to distract than her mother had been when sibling rivalry had hit, "As my Lady Helena commands."

He went over to his greatcoat, rummaging in the pocket for a handkerchief and a coin. Once he had what he wanted, he turned back to his expectant audience.

"Watch this, Miss Helena. I'm going to make this coin disappear."

Her eyes went round with wonder at his words and he allowed himself the luxury of a smile. He'd never stop thanking God for the day Lady Mary and Mr Matthew had come back to Downton. It meant he had the pleasure of watching another dark-haired, determined Crawley girl grow up. He had another little girl who could one day become his Lady.

Lady Mary Josephine Crawley and the Honourable Helena Sybil Crawley. Mother and daughter. Two generations of Crawleys; of Downton's future. Two dark-haired, dark-eyed beauties who sat enthroned in Charles Carson's heart. He would have laid down his life for either one of them.


End file.
